(The next in my series of blog posts about the Mormon hymns I have grown up with and loved. Since this is the second post, I officially have a series. So far I am going in order the hymns appear in the official Hymn book of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I may change that if the mood strikes me!)
This post is about Hymn #2, The Spirit of God, by W.W. Phelps.
I can honestly say this hymn is a favorite. I know that I’ve said that they are all my favorites, and it’s true, but this is a favorite favorite. It’s probably in the top half of the top ten of my favorites.
I came across in interesting quote by Bruce R. McConkie that relates to how I feel about singing this song, "Music is given of God to further his purposes. Sweet melodies mellow the souls of men and help prepare them for the gospel. After men receive the truth, songs of praise to Deity help to sanctify and cleanse their souls." Mormon Doctrine (1966), 521
The Spirit of God was written by W.W. Phelps, who also wrote many other really great hymns which would be at the top of my list of favorite favorites as well. I have learned in the course of researching the hymns that the authors often wrote the text and then the hymn was sung to various different tunes that were familiar to the people. This hymn has been set to four different tunes, finally settling into the current version which goes by the tune name “Hosanna.” This explains why the LDS hymn book has an index of meters, and you can find that when the meters match, you can sing the words of different hymns to different tunes in the book. However this is an extremely difficult exercise when you have sung the same hymn to the same tune for 30 plus years. I don’t recommend it unless you have your thinking cap securely snugged down.
The hymn was sung at the dedication of the first Mormon temple in Kirtland and is sung still at the dedication of temples throughout the world.
The first stanza reads,
The Spirit of God like a fire is burning;
The latter day glory begins to come forth;
The visions and blessings of old are returning;
And angels are coming to visit the earth.
I love to sing this part, or play it on the piano, or listen to someone else play it, because as soon as I sing or think in my heart, “The Spirit of God” like a fire is burning, I start to feel the Holy Ghost testify of the truth of the doctrines the song teaches, feeding my soul, cleaning out the cobwebs and false ideas that clog up the ability to really ponder and understand the truths of the Gospel.
It’s thrilling to think of the Kirtland Temple dedication and the marvelous events that accompanied it. The Kirtland Temple was the first house of the Lord built in the latter days and was a place where several heavenly visitors came. Jesus Christ Himself appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and accepted the Kirtland Temple as His house. Moses, Elias, and Elijah also came and gave Joseph and Oliver the authority to gather Israel and to seal families together forever. According to the research I did, Phelps wrote this text in January 1836, and the temple dedication was in March 1836.
An interesting thing to note is that there are two stanzas of the hymn that we don’t sing in modern congregations. The original stanza four speaks in the spirit of prophecy about these Kirtland events in even more detail,
Old Israel that fled from the world for his freedom,
Must come with the cloud and the pillar, amain;
A Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua lead him,
And feed him on manna from heaven again.
The chorus reads,
We'll sing and we'll shout with the armies of heaven:
Hosanna, hosanna to God and the Lamb!
Let glory to them in the highest be given,
Henceforth and forever: amen and amen!
This chorus invokes the Hosanna shout, an LDS ceremony performed when participating in a dedicatory service for a temple. It is accompanied by the members of the congregation waving a white handkerchief . The hosanna shout was performed in Jerusalem upon Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and signifies welcoming him both symbolically and physically into the world, our hearts, and the place of worship being dedicated. It acknowledges ceremonially that each of these are the Lord's as he has won them and then shared them with us through the Atonement. I love that these words are the words that repeat four times as we sing with the song.
I read that in the Community of Christ church, they have changed the first line to read “angels of heaven” and I like that idea. I understand the military symbolism, but I also like the idea that there are armies of angels in heaven.
The second verse reads,
The Lord is extending the saints' understanding—
Restoring their judges and all as at first;
The knowledge and power of God are expanding
The veil o'er the earth is beginning to burst.
In this verse, the hymns’ writer and performers acknowledge the vastness and completeness of the restoration of the Gospel. The tune is so powerful and triumphant, when I get to the line, "the veil o’er the earth is beginning to burst", it feels like Holy Ghost fireworks, almost like the Holy Ghost could be showing off a little if he could possibly do that.
Stanza three is a little more reserved in its tone, putting out a call to action of how we will play a role in spreading the Gospel and in building up the kingdom.
We call in our solemn assemblies, in spirit,
To spread forth the kingdom of heaven abroad,
That we through our faith may begin to inherit
The visions, and blessings, and glories of God.
I love the promise that these lines imply, that we are the inheritors of God’s nature as his children, and we have the right to access the visions and blessings and glories of God through our faith.
And the last verse has another wonderful Isaiah reference (you can rely on Isaiah to make the Gospel sound poetic and inspiring),
How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion
Shall lie down together without any ire
And Ephraim be crown'd with his blessing in Zion,
As Jesus descends with his chariots of fire!
It refers to Isaiah 11:6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." This verse makes me think again of the hosanna shout, waving that white handkerchief in a symbol of welcome to the Prince of Peace.
Of course the last two lines of Stanza Four are thrilling as well, as we can envision the Lord’s triumphant return to the earth to claim his people as his own.
I am reminded of the scene in the Book of Mormon where the Lord calls down his angels from heaven to minister to the children of the Nephites:
“And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.”
The Spirit of God, it burns like a fire in my heart, a light and a warmth that illuminates, directs, protects, and cleanses, teaches, and sanctifies.
This post is about Hymn #2, The Spirit of God, by W.W. Phelps.
I can honestly say this hymn is a favorite. I know that I’ve said that they are all my favorites, and it’s true, but this is a favorite favorite. It’s probably in the top half of the top ten of my favorites.
I came across in interesting quote by Bruce R. McConkie that relates to how I feel about singing this song, "Music is given of God to further his purposes. Sweet melodies mellow the souls of men and help prepare them for the gospel. After men receive the truth, songs of praise to Deity help to sanctify and cleanse their souls." Mormon Doctrine (1966), 521
The Spirit of God was written by W.W. Phelps, who also wrote many other really great hymns which would be at the top of my list of favorite favorites as well. I have learned in the course of researching the hymns that the authors often wrote the text and then the hymn was sung to various different tunes that were familiar to the people. This hymn has been set to four different tunes, finally settling into the current version which goes by the tune name “Hosanna.” This explains why the LDS hymn book has an index of meters, and you can find that when the meters match, you can sing the words of different hymns to different tunes in the book. However this is an extremely difficult exercise when you have sung the same hymn to the same tune for 30 plus years. I don’t recommend it unless you have your thinking cap securely snugged down.
The hymn was sung at the dedication of the first Mormon temple in Kirtland and is sung still at the dedication of temples throughout the world.
The first stanza reads,
The Spirit of God like a fire is burning;
The latter day glory begins to come forth;
The visions and blessings of old are returning;
And angels are coming to visit the earth.
I love to sing this part, or play it on the piano, or listen to someone else play it, because as soon as I sing or think in my heart, “The Spirit of God” like a fire is burning, I start to feel the Holy Ghost testify of the truth of the doctrines the song teaches, feeding my soul, cleaning out the cobwebs and false ideas that clog up the ability to really ponder and understand the truths of the Gospel.
It’s thrilling to think of the Kirtland Temple dedication and the marvelous events that accompanied it. The Kirtland Temple was the first house of the Lord built in the latter days and was a place where several heavenly visitors came. Jesus Christ Himself appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and accepted the Kirtland Temple as His house. Moses, Elias, and Elijah also came and gave Joseph and Oliver the authority to gather Israel and to seal families together forever. According to the research I did, Phelps wrote this text in January 1836, and the temple dedication was in March 1836.
An interesting thing to note is that there are two stanzas of the hymn that we don’t sing in modern congregations. The original stanza four speaks in the spirit of prophecy about these Kirtland events in even more detail,
Old Israel that fled from the world for his freedom,
Must come with the cloud and the pillar, amain;
A Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua lead him,
And feed him on manna from heaven again.
The chorus reads,
We'll sing and we'll shout with the armies of heaven:
Hosanna, hosanna to God and the Lamb!
Let glory to them in the highest be given,
Henceforth and forever: amen and amen!
This chorus invokes the Hosanna shout, an LDS ceremony performed when participating in a dedicatory service for a temple. It is accompanied by the members of the congregation waving a white handkerchief . The hosanna shout was performed in Jerusalem upon Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and signifies welcoming him both symbolically and physically into the world, our hearts, and the place of worship being dedicated. It acknowledges ceremonially that each of these are the Lord's as he has won them and then shared them with us through the Atonement. I love that these words are the words that repeat four times as we sing with the song.
I read that in the Community of Christ church, they have changed the first line to read “angels of heaven” and I like that idea. I understand the military symbolism, but I also like the idea that there are armies of angels in heaven.
The second verse reads,
The Lord is extending the saints' understanding—
Restoring their judges and all as at first;
The knowledge and power of God are expanding
The veil o'er the earth is beginning to burst.
In this verse, the hymns’ writer and performers acknowledge the vastness and completeness of the restoration of the Gospel. The tune is so powerful and triumphant, when I get to the line, "the veil o’er the earth is beginning to burst", it feels like Holy Ghost fireworks, almost like the Holy Ghost could be showing off a little if he could possibly do that.
Stanza three is a little more reserved in its tone, putting out a call to action of how we will play a role in spreading the Gospel and in building up the kingdom.
We call in our solemn assemblies, in spirit,
To spread forth the kingdom of heaven abroad,
That we through our faith may begin to inherit
The visions, and blessings, and glories of God.
I love the promise that these lines imply, that we are the inheritors of God’s nature as his children, and we have the right to access the visions and blessings and glories of God through our faith.
And the last verse has another wonderful Isaiah reference (you can rely on Isaiah to make the Gospel sound poetic and inspiring),
How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion
Shall lie down together without any ire
And Ephraim be crown'd with his blessing in Zion,
As Jesus descends with his chariots of fire!
It refers to Isaiah 11:6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." This verse makes me think again of the hosanna shout, waving that white handkerchief in a symbol of welcome to the Prince of Peace.
Of course the last two lines of Stanza Four are thrilling as well, as we can envision the Lord’s triumphant return to the earth to claim his people as his own.
I am reminded of the scene in the Book of Mormon where the Lord calls down his angels from heaven to minister to the children of the Nephites:
“And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.”
The Spirit of God, it burns like a fire in my heart, a light and a warmth that illuminates, directs, protects, and cleanses, teaches, and sanctifies.
1 comment:
Thanks LJ,
That is one of my favorites also. I had no idea that there used to be more and I totally didn't realize that the Hosanna shout was in there! It is an amazing song! Love this series!
Post a Comment